Pep Guardiola identifies "one of the world's best" for Premier League transfer raid

Manchester City are pursuing a deal for Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes, who Pep Guardiola has already described as "one of the best players in the world."

The European champions are aiming to complete the signing of a new midfielder after their proposed deal for West Ham ’s Lucas Paqueta broke down with the player now implicated in a Football Association investigation over potential betting breaches.

The treble winners have seen Ilkay Gundogan depart to Barcelona this summer while Kevin de Bruyne has suffered a hamstring injury which is likely to sideline him for between three and four months, leaving City’s midfield light in depth.

A report in The Athletic now outlines how Portugal international Nunes – who moved to Molineux last year from Sporting CP on a five-year deal – is on City’s shortlist. However, Wolves are likely to strongly resist any sale of the player.

Nunes was an instrumental figure at Lisbon giants Sporting as they won the Portuguese title, two Portuguese Cups and the Portuguese Super Cup. He was strongly linked with a move to Liverpool last summer but that never materialised and he instead moved to Wolverhampton.

Guardiola had at that stage already lavished praise on the midfielder, now aged 24, as ‘one of the best players in the world’ following a Champions League knockout match between the two in which Sporting were resoundly beaten but in which Nunes impressed.

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"Sporting are a fantastic team," said Guardiola after his City side beat Sporting 5-0 in early 2022. "They are the champions of Portugal, which have a very strong league... they change the ball well, they have fast and intelligent players. I would say that Matheus Nunes is one of the best players in the world today."

Nunes made 41 appearances for Wolves last term but the club’s financial situation means that they would – albeit highly reluctantly – consider selling the player, if a bid was of a sufficient threshold to allow the club to bolster Gary O’Neill’s first-team squad.

Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze is said to be another player on City’s radar for the position, while they club are set to complete the signing of Belgian international winger Jeremy Doku from Rennes – having already signed Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol this summer.

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